Controversial fuel tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei confessed in church recently that many women were coming to him asking for help on behalf of their husbands.
Addressing members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church where he is also an elder, Tagwirei said he was faced with a big problem of women asking for help from him.
In a video circulating on social media, the multimillionaire businessman is preaching to the people telling women to value their husbands and not seek help from other people’s husbands.
“I have a problem and I want to confess, a big problem. There are many women or wives who come to me looking for help on behalf of their husbands. Yet it is being said that ‘seek from your husband not from other people’s husbands,” Tagwirei said.
While it is highly believed that Tagwirei’s wealth and success is credited to corrupt deals and connections with the big names in government, his wife Sandra Mpunga is said to be the backbone of his rise to riches.
His wife who walked with him and helped him launch his business after being retrenched from CBZ bank where he held a senior position.
The couple identified a huge gap in the fuel market where targeted sanctions had chased away western investors.
It said that one day the couple was sitting in a fuel queue and they realised they could invest in the fuel industry using the retrenchment package.
They jointly formed a joint venture called Sakunda (name derived from Sandra and Kuda). Kuda had 54% shares and his wife had 46% shares.
They applied for a fuel trading license but unfortunately, they did not get one that year. They then leased a fuel license from someone else and kickstarted their entity.
It is further reported that, after six months into launching their operations, Sakunda won a contract worth US$500 000 to supply fuel but since they didn’t have the money, they mortgaged their house and got the loan to supply the fuel.
They went on to grow their supply and within ten years of operation, they were amongst the biggest in Zimbabwe.
Over the years, before the military coup, Tagwirei established a strong relationship with then Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa (now President) and Army General Constantino Chiwenga (now Vice President).
He was allegedly “corruptly” awarded a tender for the supply of services to the controversial Command Agriculture scheme.
It later emerged that more than US$3 billion was siphoned by a few companies including the Sakunda Command Agriculture scheme.
He continued to receive more government contracts, forming new companies and creating an empire until he became a millionaire with the capacity of lending money to the whole government.
With massive reports of corruption and aiding the Zanu-PF regime, Tagwirei’s company, Sakunda was slapped with sanctions by the US and UK governments. But he continued to do business by relocating his network to Mauritius and Dubai.
